For

Against

So, you're off to university in a couple of weeks and know that your new room is going to be small. Packing in the all-important television and of course computer might be a bit much alongside the more important things like a beer fridge.

However, leaving out the TV will mean you won't be able to take your Xbox or/and Gamecube and that will only lead to nights binge drinking down the pub seeing how many bottles of vodka you can drink in 15 minutes.

In steps the Mayflash Xbox and Gamecube VGA Box, a cunning device that will allow you to use your computer's monitor to play your Xbox and GameCube.

The box is simple and effective. There is no need for an additional power supply as the unit drains power from the console and it's even got a switch so you can swap between computer and said console without the worry of having to start dismantling your setup every time you need to jump back to a PC task.

The box also promises to deal with your audio, albeit via a 3.5mm plug rather than hi-fi friendly phono sockets, but this does mean that those wishing to plug it straight into your computer speakers needn't worry about finding additional cables.

In our tests the system worked fine. Setup was simple, thanks to do all the cables you need being bundled in the box and this device does what it says on the tin. Our only complaint came when we wanted to connect both our Xbox and GameCube to the box at the same time.

Although there are the cables to do this dangling out the back of the box, Mayflash suggest against this. Why we aren't sure, but like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters we are told that this would be bad.

Throwing caution to the wind for the sake of Pocket-lint readers we went ahead anyway and guess what… you can't have both consoles connected at the same time.

Verdict

The likelihood is that if unless you're a hardened console junkie you're unlikely to have both consoles sitting around waiting to be connected to your computer monitor when you aren't typing out that essay or filing that report.

For those single console users, this will not only save you space in that bedsit or halls dorm, but additionally with no TV in the room you won't have to fear the TV licence man when he comes visiting. Having said that, you'd still have to put up with someone else's choice of programmes in a communal area then.